I was trained to be a teacher and I taught for 4 1/2 years on Staten Island and Queensbury. In 1967, I started my family. I had six kids, and I was a stay-at-home-mom for 19 years. During that time, I was active in the schools and recreation programs at the town level for many years. I was chair of town recreation commission in Queensbury. In 1986, when my youngest was in kindergarten, one of the supervisors who represented Queensbury died. He was involved in tourism, which was one of my interests. There are four or five men and me going for the Republican endorsement. I was selected and then ran for office. I served nine and a half years until Assemblyman Jim King resigned, and I ran for assembly. In 2002 I ran for Sen. Stafford's seat.

All along, I was always interested in politics. I was a member of the League of Women Voters for a time. There was a little voice in my head that said, 'Why don't they do it this way, I would do it this way.' Before you know it, you're running for office.

What was challenging about running for office? Was anything particularly challenging because you were a woman?

I used to go door to door with a friend, we wore jogging suits and ran between houses. Once I handed my palm card to a man, he looked at it and said, 'Is this you?' That was a little disconcerting. One of the times I ran for a supervisor, a committeeman came out of the meeting saying, I went in to vote for a man, but you convinced me.

My introduction to politics was when I ran for chairman and got six votes but nine people swore they voted for me. I noticed a difference in the friendliness — the men were chummier with each other. They would all plan where they were going out to lunch and leave me out. Of the 55 Republicans in the Assembly, five or seven were women. We were never on the inside. Sometimes women weren't friendly with other women, there was a feeling of, 'Well you got here, we're not going to associate with you.'

What do you think about the low numbers of women holding elected office (particularly at higher levels, such as state and federal government)?

Women start out on school boards, and they are effective, unsung heroes. Some move on, but many are satisfied. Women aren't as concerned with how high you go as much as how effective can be where you are.

I went to the Assembly when my youngest was 15, and I was getting divorced; if he was younger I wouldn't have gone to Albany. It's difficult for women to be away from home like that – they have responsibilities at home, parents and a husband to take care of, and that burden falls on women more than men, in general.

It encourages women to seek office, and a lot of women are doing it. I did a presentation at a Republican event, and I found out the year women won the right to vote, the first woman was elected to the assembly in 1917. She was asked, are you running as a woman? She said, do I have a choice? I don't think people run as a woman anymore, unless she's going to be the first woman. After that people vote for who they like.

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